Vampire Barbie
by ClaireytheFairy
Summary: She hates Vampire Barbie. But at least it makes her something. Caroline centric. Some Damon/Caroline Daroline


**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

The first time that Damon calls Caroline by that atrocious name, she nearly tears his throat out in anger. She stares at him in frustration and goes to say something but finds herself speechless. She's no Barbie doll.

She hates Vampire Barbie. But at least it makes her something.

* * *

><p>She hates Barbie dolls.<p>

Her mother buys her the plastic figurine when she's ten years old. Her father laughs at the look of disgust on his daughter's face. Nonetheless, the girl makes a show of playing with it at least once a day for her mother's sake. Not that the woman notices, she is already fading out of her daughter's life.

By the age of fifteen, her father has disappeared and her mother has faded away entirely. She's left alone with a plastic toy as her only companion. Every time that Bonnie and Elena go out without her or Elena steals the heart of another boy that Caroline is secretly (or not so secretly) pining after, she turns back to the doll and plays with it again. But this time it's not for her mother's sake.

Somehow it's perfection makes her happy. Not because she thinks that she can ever be perfect but simply because it helps her remember that neither can Elena.

Perfect, perfect Elena. She nearly laughs.

Not so perfect.

* * *

><p>She'll never have Ken.<p>

She watches Matt and Elena dance together as the Junior Prom in disgust. Her own dress is a light shade of blue that matches her eyes and her hair has been gently curled to contrast against Elena's sleek locks.

She's beautiful.

But not beautiful enough.

Elena has stolen the heart of nearly every boy in the room as they watch Matt twirl her under his arm, her green dress fanning outwards. They win Prom King and Queen, not that anyone is surprised. When Stefan comes and immediately takes the broken Elena into his arms, Caroline realises that Elena has somehow found herself another Ken while she is yet to find one.

She's fooling herself if he thinks that Damon is her Ken.

She's getting very good at fooling herself.

* * *

><p>She's no damsel in distress.<p>

Or at least she would like to think so. But the number of times that Damon or Stefan have come out of nowhere to save her life would seem to indicate otherwise. She doesn't want to be weak. She thinks that she can hold her own; she thinks that she's strong.

Somehow she fools herself into actually believing it.

But when Damon crushes her into the bed or Elijah squeezes her throat as he pushes her against a wall or Bonnie causes her to fall to the ground in agony from a single glance, she realises that she's kidding herself if she thinks that she can fight against all of them. That she can do it alone.

But the problem is that she has to do it alone.

Because there's no one to rescue this damsel.

* * *

><p>Sometimes when Damon kisses her he holds her gently and it's such a stark comparison to how he used to treat her and she wonders if she should fool herself into thinking that he actually loves her. One night as they lie in his bed she asks him timidly,<p>

"If I'm Vampire Barbie, does that make you Vampire Ken?" He laughs harshly,

"Fuck no. Well, at least I better not be that whipped." She doesn't laugh. She just watches him. He sighs and turns to face her,

"I'm not perfect, I'm no Ken."

"Exactly!" she whispers fiercely, "And I'm no Barbie."

"No," he says softly as he gazes at her in contemplation, "You're not." Those words make her freeze, because suddenly she's lost her identity. And as much as she hates Vampire Barbie, at least it makes her something.

"Then what am I?" she whispers, fearful of the answer. He smiles sadly,

"You're Caroline," he says, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Although she supposes that it is. "You're just Caroline," he repeats.

"Just Caroline," she whispers sadly. He raises a brow and shakes his head.

"You don't get it," he says.

"Get what?"

"'Just Caroline' isn't perfect. But no one's perfect. She's enough though. _You _are enough," he whispers to her. And suddenly she realises.

He's not Ken and she's not Barbie. But she's not fooling herself anymore.

Because for the first time in her life she's enough and that's really everything that she ever wanted.

Because really, perfection is overrated.


End file.
